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70,000 Square feet of fear

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This article was published 01/10/2022 (1114 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After two seasons of operating under COVID-19 restrictions, Heebie Jeebies is preparing to open for its biggest year yet — for those brave enough to step foot inside.

“This is technically our fifth year…after the first year we could see that people really loved what we do,” says Tim Muys, co-owner of Heebie Jeebies, adding that even during COVID-19 attendance levels still increased steadily. “This year we’re expecting even more of an increase, we’ve added lots of really cool and interesting things for people to see and do.”

This year’s haunt features four mazes, spanning the most frightening 70,000 square feet you’ll ever walk through. “I can’t say there’s any maze that’s less scary than the others,” Muys said. “We have a saying here at Heebie Jeebies, that if you don’t have a phobia when you come in, you’ll probably have one when you leave. That’s what we try to do, we try to freak you out.”

The newest addition, Cell Block 13, is sure to shake visitors to their core, Muys says. “It’s penitentiary-like maze with some deranged prisoners inside, they’ve all kind of gone a little crazy. When you walk in, you get your mugshot taken and you’re processed like a prisoner, then they boot you into the cell block and — good luck. Your goal is just to survive.”

The maze weaves in and out of cell blocks, a zombie shower, the morgue and the prison yard, with a menacingly large guard tower looming over. “People are going to have a lot of fun,” Muys said.

Also new this year is an electric chair experience, Muys says, an interactive photo op that will surely terrify guests. “We have lots of photo ops, but we’ve never had an interactive experience,” Muys says. “Visitors can actually sit in the chair, and we’ll put them through this 60 second to two-minute experience. Their friends can video and take pictures of them while they’re being electrocuted.”

Guests can also have their photos taken with a giant pumpkin, Farting Fatty and Big Bertha, and the Evil Jacks, which are human beings with pumpkin heads.

“They’ve severed their human heads off and replaced them with pumpkins, and their human heads are on the ground stuffed into a giant pumpkin,” Muys said with a laugh. “It’s cool, it’s going to be a great photo op for people.”

Old mazes that are fan favourites have returned with new features, Muys says. Guests can enjoy a new vortex tunnel in Bobo’s Funhouse, which may or may not require a puke bucket at the end. The butcher has been busy all summer in the Saskatchie Cuzzies maze resulting in a few more victims to encounter, and Bunker Z has new characters as well, one of which might soak unsuspecting visitors with acid if they get too close.

“We’re trying to add more every year, and the space is constantly evolving,” Muys says. “People are going to come and see new stuff in every single maze, so if they enjoyed a maze last year and it was their favourite, they’re going to find a couple of new features in every single one of them.”

It takes approximately 170 people to run Heebie Jeebies every night, Muys said, and a dedicated team has been busy all summer getting the mazes ready to start scaring people all Halloween season long.

“We have a lot of fun,” Muys said. “There’s something that sort of happens to you as you do this, you just get a kick out of it — watching people get scared.”

Starting October 6, screams will be heard coming from Heebie Jeebies every Thursday through Sunday, as well as Halloween Monday.

This year, the team has introduced dynamic pricing, making it cheaper to visit Heebie Jeebies earlier in the month, Muys says. They’ve also started offering unlimited re-entry on select nights.

“It’s something I haven’t seen in the haunted industry at all, with all of our competitors you’re only allowed through (a maze) once and that’s it, you’re not allowed to go back in the same maze twice,” Muys said. “So, we’re offering our guests an unlimited night, where if you come on certain nights you can go in and out as many times as you want. If you love clowns, you can see clowns all night long. it’s pretty cool that way.”

They also offer a Scaredy Cat pass, which allows access to the food trucks and photo ops in the scare zone for those too freaked out to go through the mazes.

For more information on Heebie Jeebies and to purchase tickets, visit heebie-jeebies.ca